Chef Riku
Chef Riku (commonly referred to as Chef Ninja) is the head of the Core of War's cafeteria staff. True to his moniker he is both a skilled chef and master ninja. Appearance Riku is a man of muscular, relatively tall build, of asian ethnicity and possesses black hair and blood red eyes. He most often seen in his chef uniform which consists of a white button-up, apron, and a chef's hat. His right arm rests in a makeshift sling of his coat, the unused sleeve is allowed to hang emptily. In addition to this he wears a skin tight ninja outift under his button up, fingerless gloves, and a pair of Hakama-like pants that flair out widely in a manner similar to bell-bottoms. In addition to this outfit he compulsively wears a ninja mask that hides most of his face save for his eyes and brow. Under said mask his face is marked by a poorly healed, x-shaped scar on the right side of his face that he is highly concious about. When his hair isn't hidden by his mask Riku's hair is a short, spiky, unkempt black. Personality Riku is normally a calm and collected individual devoted to serving the distinct palates of all races regardless how exotic. That being said his calm nature is easily shattered at slightest provocation, sending him into a fiery rage that is only relieved with caffeine, normally in terms of a cup of black coffee. It's worth noting that Riku's rage can often turn violent, Riku will not hesitate to hurl his knives at troublemakers, not even trying to miss them. Additionally said fits of fury are often comically over-the-top, with threats like "I'LL RIP YOUR LIVER OUT AND SERVE IT TO YOU" and so forth. The Chef Ninja is also highly territorial and protective of things he values, namely his fellow chefs, friends, his katana and knives and his kitchen. Abusing any of the above is liable to send Riku into a murderous fury. Riku has a pechant for jazz and lounge music and is close friends with fellow cooks Reuben and Shiranui, and enjoys spending free time with both. Background Riku was born in Japan, the exact area is unknown, he was born into and raised in one of those nonrealistic, superninja clans with ridiculously rigorous training designed to enable said would-be ninjas to do all the crazy ninja abilities that are absolutely needed for assassination. Said training was designed to limit a ninja's emotions and thus in theory make them more effective killers, all it did was make a few generations of heavily repressed and emotionally unstable murderers with the ability to teleport around and be ridiculously stealthy. At age 18 Riku decided that being a mindless hired gun (or knive given the circumstances) and fled from the clan to pursue dreams of cooking in far-off Europe. The clan was unpleased to say the least, sending their agents to track down and destroy Riku because he was trained by superninjas and that knowledge could be very powerful. Among these agents were Riku's two closest friends; his sister Hebi and his cousin/blood-brother Akira. Fortunately Riku was successful in escaping his family and took up a number of false indentities and started up a new life in France where he spent four years in culinary school learning the trade. After taking up various jobs in the food industry Riku found himself offered a position serving as a chef aboard the Core-of-War. Seeing this as a glorious chance to expand his culinary knowledge to include other planets and alien cultures he happily accepted the offer. While intially considered to be a lowly busboy his skills at cooking, fighting, and just being all around intimidating pushed him to the spot of being Head Chef for the Core's Cafeteria Crew. Course it wasn't all sugar and rainbows, not long after he was discovered by his cousin, who had taken over the clan and had apparentely collapsed into dementia after he began weilding an ancient weapon locked away by the clan called the "Black Devil Comet", a 'cursed' blade that had begun warping Akira's appearance and personality, now referring to himself as "Zetsubou." Riku temporarily resigned and went into hiding again in order to track down and stop the threat of his clan for good and to protect Core from having to fight off ninjas. Six months of gathering up strength and waiting for an ideal time to attack Riku returned to Japan to find his clan changed, dragged into the 22nd century to become NyctoCorp, a military training and weapons production facility that also worked as a puppet company for a large assassination ring. Riku broke into it's headquarters and confronted Zetsubou and iniated a long grueling battle to the death, at the peak of which Zetsubou activated his sword's true power, revealing it to be an ancient alien bioweapon that mutated the former CEO into a deranged monster sporting four bladed, scythe-like appendages. Eventually Riku managed to slay his cousin though not before sustaining a serious blow to his right shoulder that damaged and partially mutated the muscles and skin around to wound, stiffening the muscles and tendons. Riku is now back at Core serving as head chef and trying his best to get used to newfound freedoms, friendships and rivalries. That and a curiously vivid nightmares and grisly hallucinations centered around a shadowy Zetsubou... Skills/Abilities *Skilled cook, speciallizing in various desserts and meat dishes *Above average fighter with his kitchen knives and Katana, the former at both close range and throwing *He's basically one of those bullshit anime ninjas with superstealth, high jumps, and abnormally fast movement *Rigorous physical training gives him appropriate amounts of endurance and strength *His emotional training allows him to, on rare ocassions focus through mentally taxing or disorientating situations His fighting style is two-fold, separated into two distinct styles: Knife style and Katana style Katana Technique A slow, deliberate style that focuses on dealing fewer but more damaging blows on a target, aiming for vitals like the bowels or the neck to quickly incapacite and opponent. This technique is differentiated from Riku's Knife Style by the erect posture and the use of a traditional katana held in Riku's left hand (though occassionally the right hand is used for the heavier attacks). This style has two special attacks: Hurricane Sashimi, an onslaught of lightning-fast slashes that damage all limbs and the torso severly if it hits, and "Psychotic Overtime" a berserker-mode special attack that highly increases attack and speed but ruins his accuracy. Kitchen Knife Technique A fast and furious close range style with projectile attacks mixed in. This style is characterized by a low fighting stance and Chef holding several kitchen knives and other sharp implements in between his fingers so that the wounds inflicted resemble claw marks, this has caused this style to be nicknamed the "Tiger" style. This style is highly offensive in that it focuses on not letting the opponent get much time to counterattack or break through Riku's pitiful defenses. Usually attacks are aimed at the arms to cause the opponent to drop their weapon. The two special attacks in this style are Lightning Brochette, an aerial barrage of knives thrown with such force that they can split bones and armor alike if they hit, and the aforementioned "Psychotic Overtime." Weaknesses *mediocre defense *is unskilled in hand-to-hand combat *his rage can make him reckless in fights *Can only use one arm most of the time Strategies The following are several tips that work well against Riku in fights, nearly all of which play off of Riku's weaknesses. *Flank him!: Riku is vulnerable from behind or the right flank, try to get to the side or behind him to land a few vital hits *If you have a long range weapon, use it: Riku's style is largely close range so keeping your distance is a good way to avoid punishment. That being said don't forget about his ninja teleporting and try to keep moving *Punish those specials: Riku's two offensive specials (Lightning Brochette and Hurricane Sashimi) are horribly inaccurate or require an intial hit to follow up respectively, if he misses you can easily counter for big damage *Shoot him, it'll just make him angry!: well, that and badly injure him. In all seriousness annoying Riku into a blind rage is a good way to make him sloppy and miss attacks or make stupid manuevers, this is especially the case with Psychotic Overtime is active *Disarm him: Riku is severely handcapped offensively when he's without any blades, disarming him will put him on the defensive until he can recover a weapon. Trivia *those red eyes are a trait shared by his clan *he loves Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and the other great musicians of the Harlem Renaissance * He is a caffeine addict, hence why he loves coffee so. *Despite no longer having to worry about his clan Riku still wears his ninja mask to obscure his features. This is primarily out of habit and as a sort of security blanket. *He has rare but vivid hallucinations and nightmares of a phantom Zetsubou *Riku's name mean's "Earth" in reference to his calm nature (except for the occasional earthquake) *The Kanji on his apron mean "Teacher" because that's kind of what he acts like towards his fellow cooks *The kanji on his katana means "Raijin," the name of the Japanese deity of thunder and lightning. *He was partially inspired by Hell's Chef from Gregory House Horror Show, who shares Riku's hatred for smoking and his murderous temper *In Dweller's subconcious-based vision she sees Chef Ninja as bloody red, with a dark stain in the area of his injured arm. His shadow is warped and shows abnormal things like bladed tentacles coming from Riku's injured shoulder. Recurring Character Interactions *Riku works closely with all his fellow Chefs, however he is closest to Reuben and Shiranui. The Former is basically Riku's best friend and straight-laced buddy whenever off-shift while Shiranui is more of a comrade. It's been said that if Riku had to fight the ENTIRE station and could have only one teammate, he would choose to have Shiranui as his partner. (Plus they both can pull off ridiculous ninja bullcrap) *Riku and Dweller used to be a sort off-and-on quasi-relationship that ended when Riku realized how forced it felt in addition to his need to leave on "family business." Riku tolerates Dweller's thievery and meddling in his kitchen more then he would with most would-be saboteurs, though he is not nearly as lenient towards Chuck, Dweller's significant other. *Riku and Chuck are in a sort of demi-rivalry, this is caused by Riku's strong aversion to his personal property or workspace being intruded or tampered with, and Chuck's deliberate antagonizing simply to get a reaction out of the short-tempered cook. *Cecil and Chacha make a frequent habit of harrassing both Riku and Reuben "for the lulz." Riku has yet to simply stab the two of them or cut them to pieces because that would just make them harass him more and out of spite. *Riku has thus far only really trusted Dr. Stillman with the true nature of his shoulder injury...In addition the chef often visits the Infirmary due to his frequent injuries while on the job or in matches.